


I Come As a Friend

by TheLibraryWitch



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Canon Divergence - Thor: The Dark World, Gen, I feel like he would be a bit suspicious of the whole void debacle, If Heimdall actually sees everything and he's as smart as he seems, Implied/Referenced Torture, Post-Thor: The Dark World
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 10:54:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17343995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLibraryWitch/pseuds/TheLibraryWitch
Summary: After his sentencing, the gag was removed and Loki was left in his cell.For five months Odin’s ban kept all who would speak to him away, as he stared up at the bright ceiling and tried to quiet the screaming in his mind. After all was said and done, Heimdall was the last person he expected to come visit him.





	I Come As a Friend

After his sentencing, the gag was removed and Loki was left in his cell.

 

For five months Odin’s ban kept all who would speak to him away, as he stared up at the bright ceiling and tried to quiet the screaming in his mind. After all was said and done, Heimdall was the last person he expected to come visit him. 

“Why are you here.”

Loki did not budge from his position curled up on the cot, facing the wall.

_How long have I been like this how did I get here I don’t remember moving I don’t remember_

 

“To speak to you. To see a friend.”

 

“To speak, just to see, A _friend_ ” Loki began, every word thrown back like a knife dripping venom, as he shoved down the nearly overwhelming glee that threatened to choke him with desperate thankfulness-

_Still here still real not mad not forgotten please Speak Speak please speak to me tell me I’m real_

“What is there to see? Do you not trust the mighty _Allfather_ ” Loki said the name like a curse, “Or do you not trust your own eyes, all seeing Heimdall, Watcher of the nine realms? Or perhaps… _Oh._ ”

Loki did turn now, pushing himself up on shaking arms to prowl towards the softly glowing barrier. “Or do you come to mock, to laugh at the Jotun you betrayed, caged, deep below Odin’s feet in it’s rightful place-”

 

“No.” The single word rang out, echoing loudly in the large, empty space, and ringing, strangely, of truth.

“I am here only for what I said. To see an old friend, one who was thought dead for a year. And…”

 

_Friend – you keep using that word- stop using that word please please keep using that w-_

Loki’s lungs felt like they were being squeezed, though whether it was because he was holding back tears or a scream of rage he could not tell. So he said nothing, and stood so closely to the barrier that he seemed to be inside of it, letting the golden light and shimmering patterns obscure his expression.

 

“And to apologize.”

 

“For what?” Loki screamed, as if yelling loudly enough would cover up his confusion, his mind still stuck on

_A friend a friend he called you friend why do you call me that how can I still be anything to you a criminal a Jotun a runt – a king, betrayed, - friend_

“For Betrayal? Against a false king? For the, what was it, the ‘good of Asgard’? Why, I didn’t know you cared…But the time for that is long past, you know as well as I. And I do not accept your apology. Leave.”

Loki turned away and made to move back to the cot.

 

“Without even hearing what the apology is for?”

 

Heimdalls voice was not teasing, exactly, nor was it kind. But it echoed the tone of enough late night conversations and watching stars, of shinning gears turning and gentle indulgence of _how does that part work what does that do- what happens if the Bifrost is open too long, who built it, Father says Alfheimm is not a fit place for a prince isn’t your family from there could you tell me-  do you think if Thor picked me up and flew fast enough we could get to…_ that Loki snarled

“I have not been fond of your riddles since I was a _child_. Leave now, Oath-Breaker, if you have any of your misplaced so-called fondness for me left yet.”

 

Heimdall did not move an inch.

 

“I think it is up to me to decide what fondness is misplaced and what is not, and I am not so fickle as to not admit my mistakes. However, the validity of my interference with your actions while you held Gunghir is not why I am here. And I am not in the habit of making apologies I do not mean, unlike some.” 

Loki scoffed at that, but otherwise remained silent, still refusing to look at Heimdall.

“I am sorry, because I did not see you. And although you were well hidden from my gaze, you were hurt just the same. My sight could have prevented that…. should have prevented it. And so, I am sorry.”  

Loki stiffened and turned around with a scowl as if to retort, but Heimdall continued.

“Just because my sight was obscured before does not mean I am blind. Not on Midgard, and certainly not now. And even if I was, it would not make me forget all that I know of the boy, of the man who I knew for millennia. Even a blind man does not forget his friends.”  

 

_I’m fine yes I promise look Thor agrees it’s just my ribs yeah let us in let us cross the bridge no I’m okay don’t call Eir, Heeeeimdal_

_Please can I hide in here don’t tell father yeah I’m fine, no they weren’t being mean I just fell onto some uh.. sharp rocks can I just stay here for a bit please please I’m fine I’m not hurt I promise can I stay I promise I’ll be quiet_

_Father says a prince of Asgard does not cry. *GAsp* WhichISFineBecauseI’mFineI’mFineThorWouldBeFineI’mFineFineFiiiiiiieaaaaaAAH_

“And I am not blind. And I have not forgotten the child that hid a broken wrist for a week, nor the boy that set fire to his room practicing magic and was only found out when his brother hugged him the next morning and he fainted due to pain from burns covering half his body. And I do not forget the look of the man that came back from Jotunheim with eyes full of terror, and walked away shaking.

I am not blind, and I am not stupid, and though none in the nine realms perhaps Frigga can sway Odin Allfather when his mind is set, and though it is neither my place nor my duty to determine the degree of guilt a criminal holds, I can still recognize my friend in pain without seeing him be hurt, and I can still tell him I am sorry for what was done to him. I do not need All-seeing eyes to tell me that.

“Luckily,” Heimdall went on, deliberately ignoring Loki’s shaking, sputtering half formed rebuttals and sounds of indignation,

“I _do_ have the All-Sight, and I _can_ see when the often vengeful but also kind, and certainly sharp witted, thoughtful, and tactically adept man I knew, appears on Midgard! After a year presumed dead, hidden from me.  

And I _can_ see when he stumbles and hesitates, when he collapses in an empty storage room deep underground and leaves blood on the floor. I can see when he wakes on that same floor screaming, begging for his brother, and dissolves into muttered curses and sworn vengeance. I can see it when he cries.

 _And I can see_ when he speaks to those who are not there, and when he comes back struggling to breathe from fear. When he refuses to speak a name even to a concerned thrall, and I can hear it later when he spouts words stolen from the lips of an enemy long presumed dead, though…”

 

The corners of Heimdall’s lips turned upwards. “We both know the void is not the death sentence Asgard thinks it to be, yes?”

 

Loki was frozen now, all attempts to speak long gone, swallowed up by an ash pale face and wide eyes.

 

So Heimdall went on, not bothering the hide the edge creeping into his voice, but not unkindly either,

“I am here to apologize to a friend. And I am here to see that he is alright, or will be, despite his crimes. And they were, I think, his crimes.

However, even a blind man knows the difference between a promise freely given and one dragged out of a mouth full of thorns, between loyalty sworn in earnest and one cried out in fear.

So I wonder, when you say that you are deep within Asgard, exactly where you are meant to be, if there is not more truth to your spiteful words than you intend, and I wonder at your brother, for not knowing you better.

For I have watched you both for a thousand years, at my side and very much not, and never once, not once, Loki, have I seen you be so cruel, or so _outrageously stupid_.”

 

Heimdall paused, drew himself up, and almost laughed now, though the resulting noise rang hollow and sad,

 

“I apologize not only on my behalf, for not looking closer at the places between Yggdrasil, so carefully shrouded in fog, but also on behalf of all who saw the invasion, and did not suspect the glowing roadmap to victory which they were handed.

So take my apology with you, or do not, I cannot force you. Even with my far reaching sight I know not if the man in front of me holds anything of the boy I once knew, but if he does, and I think he must, if I knew Loki at all, then as I said I am here to speak with him.

I am here to tell him that while I can admit my mistakes, and while I am sorry, I am not blind yet, not in sight nor mind, so I ask you, as a friend and as the guardian of Asgard,”

 

And Heimdall’s voice turned even harder now, taking on a dark edge that Loki realized with a jolt was not directed at him. Yet also filling with a defensive care and a deep seated need for vengeance that made something in the sorcerer’s chest uncurl, just a little,

 

“ _Who_ made Loki of Asgard into that thing I just saw, and how can I drive a spear into _his_ eyes 'till he rue’s the day he crossed Heimdall Björtson”

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate titles:
> 
> Oh Boy Do I Love Commas
> 
> Send Help All I Can Write is Dialogue
> 
> Heimdall explains 80% of my MCU headcannons in one fic because I need the world to see them but lists are boring, yes I totally have a plot here – cough cough  
> 
> \-------
> 
> I love Heimdall and I have a ton of ideas about him as a character, namely that he has a deep fondness for Loki and Thor, because he watched them grow up. But he also seems to have a lot going on in his head that he doesn't let on. I struggled with his characterization, so sorry if he seems very OOC. 
> 
> This was meant to be more of a "what if", because I don't think cannon Heimdall would do this, but headcannon Heimdall sees the nerdy trickster he watched grow up turn into That™, and decides this will not stand. 
> 
> Also, Björt (for Heimdall Björtson) means Bright in Icelandic (according to google) because Heimdall is described as "shining" and the "Whitest" of the Gods, and I could not for the life of me find anything about his having a last name other than Odinson, which is mythology and doesn't work here. 
> 
> \-------
> 
> This is the second fanfic I have ever written, and I would appreciate feedback!


End file.
